About Dankira
Dance is humanity’s original universal body language — the first way we told stories, mourned, celebrated, and prayed. Long before words were written, movement carried meaning: the communal hunt, the harvest, the wedding, the ritual, the spiritual praise.
Short History
Dance has existed since the dawn of humanity. In every culture, rhythmic movement evolved as a means of communication, social bonding, and spiritual expression. Archaeological and anthropological evidence shows dance was integral to rites of passage, healing rituals, and communal celebrations across ancient civilizations.
Background About Dance in General
Dance is a performing art form consisting of purposefully selected sequences of human movement. It serves cultural, social, aesthetic, and emotional functions — expressing identity, telling stories, and reinforcing communal values. Across traditions, dance blends music, costume, space, and symbolism, evolving continuously while preserving core meanings.
History of Dance in Ethiopia
Ethiopia boasts one of Africa’s richest and most diverse dance heritages. Each ethnic group developed distinct movement vocabularies: Eskista of the Amhara highlands (with its iconic shoulder isolations), the agile footwork of Gurage, the fluid waist rhythms of Wolayta, the dynamic torso movements of Oromo, and the vibrant dances of Tigray, Afar, Somali, Sidama, Hadiya, and others. Dance has always been inseparable from Ethiopian music, religion, festivals, and everyday life, passed orally across generations.
A New Golden Age of Ethiopian Dance
Today Ethiopian dance has become a force across concerts, music videos, TV shows, and TikTok — and a sought-after signature in advertising for brands such as MIDROC, Malta, EV-Mobil, Cake Gel, Alazar Gel, and Birtat. Dance films like “Fiqir & Dance”, “Tibeb”, and “Yiqtan 3” brought our movement to the big screen, proving that dance is a story the whole nation can feel.
- Fiqir & Dance
- Tibeb
- Yiqtan 3
Honoring Our Legends
The Dankira stage stands on the shoulders of icons. We celebrate the artists who moved Ethiopian music with their bodies — Aster Aweke, Haile Ayalew, Helen Berhe, Mulualem Getachew, Yared Negu, Samson Gebre-Amlak, Afro, 27, and Zerem — and the performers who danced our stories into acting: Frehiwot Bahru, Abraham, Abdi, Asmera, and Ashenafi.
The Dankira Mission
Despite its power to shape culture, dance has long been overlooked by existing awards — treated as accompaniment rather than art. Dankira exists to correct that historic oversight: to give dancers and choreographers a respected stage, a fair evaluation, and the professional recognition their craft deserves.
Be part of the movement
Whether you dance on a national stage, post to TikTok, sing as you move, or devote a lifetime to this art — there is a category for you.